Chilean firm develops multi-material 3D printing

Santiago, Sep 17 (EFE). —  Chile’s Honeycomb Graphics says it has developed a new tridimensional printing method that adds color to techniques which have been monochromatic.

“Currently, one of the main problems with lowcost 3D printing is limited coloring since it is built adding one layer on top of another in the object, but color is limited to the hue of the filament feeding it,” company founder Andres Bienzobas told EFE.

“What we do is to tint the extruded filament pointbypoint with the technology known as Fused Deposition Modeling,” he said.

This method aims to overcome the limitations of color in lowcost 3D printing via FDM, which is the cheapest technology and the one most widely used in homes and offices across the United States and Europe.

Honeycomb is also exploring the possibilities of an approach the firm calls Solid Fiber Piling, which omits extrusion in favor of using heat or light to fuse the elements together.

“This innovation, besides including color, can be applied to multiple materials, for example combining polymers with tin without the need to change machines,” Bienzobas said. “This way metals can be embedded in the same print.”

Honeycomb Graphics was founded in 2011 to conduct research and development in the field of polymers and coloring for additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing.

The company is ready to start searching for investors in the United States, “possibly associated with a wellknown manufacturer of 3D printers in North America, to finance the final stage of development on these technologies,” Bienzobas said.

Honeycomb Graphics is seeking patents in 78 countries.